 The Authenticity Engine: How Founder-Led Content on LinkedIn Drives Growth | Jared Gibson S5:E2

Written by Mike J Midgley | Aug 11, 2025 10:52:35 AM

Welcome to the Force & Friction Podcast, where we break down what really moves the needle in GTM, RevOps, AI, and SaaS growth.

In this episode, we are joined by Jared Gibson, co-founder of Outworks, a marketing agency dedicated to helping executives and founders unlock influence and revenue through strategic LinkedIn content.

Jared guides us through a deep dive into the world of founder-led content and personal branding on LinkedIn. This is the modern blueprint for how leaders can step out from behind the corporate logo to build authentic trust at scale.

We explore why this is no longer a "nice-to-have," what the buyer journey looks like in 2025, and the specific mindset shifts and practical steps required to turn your valuable, "stuck-in-your-head" ideas into the relationships, opportunities, and business growth that define market leadership.

Jared Gibson

A true sales and marketing leader with 18+ years of experience helping businesses scale, drive revenue, and build market leadership.

Jared has helped companies generate millions in revenue, build scalable outbound programs, and launch marketing strategies from scratch.

His background spans HR, SaaS, media, and consulting, leading teams, aligning sales and marketing, and executing event-driven plays that actually move the needle.

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Here are the core areas we discuss in today's episode:

1: The Shift to Personal Brands: Why Buyers Trust People, Not Logos

Jared explains that the biggest change in marketing is the move away from faceless corporate collateral. Buyers now want to see the real people behind a company. This is where trust is built.

"You started to see more founders and executives step out from behind the company brand and really start to put themselves out there... and that trust that they're building personally just transfers back to the company in the long run."

2: The Mindset Shift: Content is a Lifestyle, Not a Short-Term Campaign

To succeed, Jared argues that you must treat content as a long-term commitment, not a temporary project. It's about planting seeds consistently over time, not looking for immediate results.

"This is going to sound Corny, and when I say it, it sounds Corny, but it is a lifestyle. You have to shift the mindset to understand that you can't test this out for 2, 3 months and hope that you get a bunch of clients from it. That's not how it works. It's a long term. Play."

3. The Content Strategy: Blending Expertise with Authentic Storytelling

A common mistake is defaulting to "buy my stuff" content. Jared breaks down the right content mix, which is not just about business but about humanizing the executive. It's a blend of domain expertise, thought leadership, and personal stories.

"It's a heavy dose of, I would say, probably 40%. What your business does. Probably 20 to 30% of thought leadership. And then the rest of that is your story. It is passions that you're doing. It's that type of stuff that's just supposed to throw personality on top of, like you already, being really good at what you do."

4. The "Dark Social" Effect: Influencing the 95% Who Aren't Ready to Buy

Jared emphasizes that the real power of content lies in "dark social", the conversations happening in private channels. Your content equips your champions to share your message inside a target account long before you're ever in the room.

"If you're visible when they don't need you, you'll be remembered when they do."

5. Overcoming "No Time" and Imposter Syndrome: A Practical Guide to Starting

Jared addresses the two biggest hurdles for executives: the feeling of "I don't have time" and the fear of putting themselves out there. He provides a simple, actionable process to get started.

"The authority is in there, though, like these people that we work with are sharp. They know a lot about a lot of things, and once we kind of find that button you start to see them shift their their tone and their personality go from like guarded to. I'm having a good time. Let's keep this party going."

Final Thoughts:

Jared leaves us with a powerful prediction about the future of B2B marketing: the rise of the B2B influencer. As the social media generation becomes the dominant buyer, companies will make it mandatory for their teams to build personal brands.

"That is the social media generation. These are the people that are on social media. They grew up on social media, and it will be the most important thing from the b 2 b. Space... companies will make it mandatory for their teams to create content and be active."

His final piece of advice is a simple but urgent call to action for anyone who knows they should be doing this but feels stuck. The most important step is the first one.

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A little about me, the host the show. Please connect with me on LinkedIn I'd love to have you as part of our professional network

Mike Midgley runs a portfolio career, a dynamic hands on digital entrepreneur, founder of the Scrubbing Squad, NXD, strategist, public speaker, Winning by Design certified Revenue Architect and Host at The Force & Friction Podcast.

Mike has achieved multiple exits over a 30+ year career, raised Venture Capital and franchised his businesses 68 times.

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